I did a detailed cleaning on my girlfriends ps2 (without asking her) with the help of this video and it looks 100x better! She walked in the door from work and I had the console completely taken apart on our dining room table. She thought I had taken apart a car stereo lol. The look of horror on her face when she realized that it was her PS2 was priceless. But everything went smooth and the console runs perfectly and looks great. Thank you for taking the time to make this video!

He said 12 years, It's 20 now, I feel old

So, long story time! After watching this video repeatedly for the last year, I decided to finally open and clean my beloved PS2--my favorite console of all time. Since 2000, it's been around 8 different pets, dealt with me as a child, and has moved to multiple houses with me, so it was pretty dirty and banged up. I only recently cleaned an Atari 2600 that once belonged to my mother and uncle, but this was my first attempt at making a more complicated console seem new again (and prevent it from becoming a fire hazard.) Everything went well, and I even took pictures through the process...except for the very last step. I carefully removed my console's lid when I first opened it, and I was incredibly delicate with the fan and the laser assembly. I spent a total of 5 hours cleaning, taking my time and getting every last bit of dust and fur out that I could. But then...right as I was flipping the lid back on to put the last screws in...the damn ribbon cable for the eject and reset button just popped out. On the side under the disc tray. And I lost. my. shit. I can't explain the sense of heartbreak, dread, and fear I felt in that moment. I started to tear up thinking, "I just broke the pride and joy of my game collection." I know I could get another PS2, but this one has been with me for 18 years. I'm quite attached to it with the amount I've played the thing. Thankfully, the cable wasn't ripped, so I opened the whole thing back up, found the slot for the cable, and despite the blue tab separating from the silver ribbon, I could still wedge the cable and tab in as if they were still connected. The power and eject button work just fine (for now...?), but if they stop working, I'll find a replacement. I know how to open it up, now. So my caution to you, whoever reads this and wants to follow this guide: Be more careful than you think you should be. Or even want to be. Some parts take a little bit of force or moving around to get them out or in, but still...take every piece apart slowly. Don't rush. Follow the guide closely. Keep track of and be careful with the ribbon cable and thin fan wire. Don't touch the laser except with a q-tip and don't go overboard with cleaning it. It's a fun console to clean, but god, it nearly caused a breakdown, even when I thought I was being careful. And thank you for the video, Adam! Despite my mishap, the "figure it out" mentality played a key part in calming me down in order to fix the problem. I googled the issue and found a video of someone removing the disc tray to show me where the port was, and then I was able to do it on my own. I still want to clean the other consoles I have, but now I feel like I'm much more prepared and actively cautious. I'm still frazzled, but...the PS2 is looking good, sounding good, and playing even better, so there's my silver lining.

Good ol PS2. No matter how many successors and competing systems that come out in later years like PS3/4/Xbox 360 and Xbox One I always find myself coming back lol.

I'm addicted to these cleaning retro gaming console videos. Thanks Adam.

Man I remember watching this back in 2013 (along with your other videos around this time), I didn't need to watch this then since I had a slim ps2, but I enjoyed watching stuff like this. Fast-forward almost 10 years later, I recently purchased a fat ps2 and I'm planning on deep cleaning it like this, had this video pop up in my search about cleaning them and it filled me with nostalgia. I'm glad to see you still making content.

Playstation 2: "Im not fat Im big boned"

I have my ps2 since I was 8 (this year I'm turning 23). It was always working, but I was getting really anxious that someday it would stop, because I could see all the dust from outside already. Thanks to your video I successfully cleaned it and now the grandma underneath all my consoles is finally able to breathe again! thank you so much and greetings from germany

I bought a fat PS2 from a friend about 10 years ago. It was always a little slow to read discs but still functioned properly over the years. I gave this a shot and had a lot of fun with it. Now the console works better than the day i got it. Thanks.

Thanks for the tutorial. I just finished using this to help with my 9 dollar goodwill ps2 find. It worked when I got it and read disks just fine but I could really smell the dust inside and didn’t feel comfortable using it until I cleaned it out completely. I had never done anything like this before and everything went fine with no issues. It works great now. I couldn’t have done it without this tutorial.

Thank you so much! My old PS2 finally stopped working today but thanks to your video I was able to clean it out and figure out what was wrong with the disk player. I am so happy it's working again, you're a life saver!

I can't tell you how much I appreciate these videos. I've taken all my systems apart now and they're squeaky clean now.

Adam, I really appreciate this video tutorial you uploaded on here. My aunt gave me a 2001 PS2 (SCPH-35001), but it was constantly freezing with certain games. Apparently the previous owner did not take good care of it before selling it, but with this tutorial and my own patience, it works like brand new! Again, thank you for uploading this, as it helped me fix this classic system up.

hello from 2020. bless you for this video. my ps2 i’ve had for 20 years was having issues and this was a great guide to clean it up.

It's nice to have videos like this posted, I fixed my first PS2 without instructions as KZfaq wasn't around back then. It was only having problems with the lens, once I'd opened, cleaned and put that PS2 back together, with no help from the internet, it felt very satisfying to see it work and function properly again, soon after so called friends asked me to clean their PS2 lenses. I didn't clean it as thoroughly as this video shows how to do, but I'll be using this video as a reference when I pop open a PS2 someone sold me last year, the shell is pretty dirty so I can only guess at how much dirt and maintenance it needs internally.

Thank you so much for this tutorial! A decade later, I watched this to clean up my old PS2, and it went absolutely flawlessly. Apart and back together in less than half a day, and now I'm playing some Manhunt! Thank you again!

Its 2019 and I still have a ps2 😂😂

You shouldn't use Windex to clean any delicate electronic components such as the CD drive laser. For these sensitive components you should use a 50/50 solution of isopropyl alcohol and water. This is because the isopropyl alcohol will evaporate quickly and won't leave any chemical residue behind.

Thank you! You have just saved an old PS2 in 2019. Found a super dirty unit that didn't read any dvds. Followed your guide and TADA: Works like a charm, and much cleaner too!

Thanks for an incredibly useful guide. I recently fired up my playstation 2 after several years of limbo. It worked for about a week & now has real trouble reading discs, so I'm thinking of taking the brave steps to do exactly what you did. Apparently this can restore the life of them by several years. You've just earned a subscription!

Beyond excited that I came across this video!!! This is exactly what I needed to learn how to do for my PS2s. I initially was too scared to open them up on my own but with your help this gives a novice such as myself the confidence to do it. Thank you

I found my PS2 slim at a swap meet for 5 bucks and it was clean as fuck. Bought a power adapter and it's perfect. Pawn shops and swap meets are straight come ups for stuff like this if any ones interested in a cheap system to take apart and learn on.

My dude, I’ve had my PS2 sense it came out and have not cleaned it once. I was so stoked to find your in-depth video on how to properly clean it! Did it today following along and man it looks great! You’re the man!

Thank you for this easy-to-understand video, explaining many of the pitfalls of console repair. Thanks also for having clear speech, and no background music.

While you have the lazer assembly in the open position, you can clean the old grease on the metal slides with Q tip and lightly lube them with white lithium grease, it will make the disk tray operate more smoothly and load games a little faster.

+Michael Francisco The PS2 has two lasers. One for CD games, one for DVD games. It's possible one of the two is damaged or dirty. Happens all the time. The exposed one is easy to clean, as I did in the video. The other...much harder. I didn't even attempt it.

Loved this vid: Thanks for the upload! So, this PS2 console was lying around in a thrift shop gathering dust for years, Adam almost completely disassembles the console, then re-constructs it - At 22:37 Adam turns it on for the first time... Works first time...! :) Kind of a testimony to Sony engineering! I still have mine... Its given me hours of fun (including some memorable Tekken with my son) - I clean out the vents with a soft brush and vac it, I dont like to mess with the CD tray too much, but I tend to use a "CD cleaning disc" to clean the lazer reader inside... Seems to work well. Havent tried the Eric H trick to add "White Lithium Grease" to the rail and teeth, but even the grinding sound from the tray can be fixed, it seems... I will be trying the magic erazer trick, as i have a few blemishes on the soft black plastic case, like Adam says ordinary house polish works to bring it back, cheap car polish seems to work well too... Maybe the PS2 will become so iconic, good working examples will become high value items on Ebay? You never know...

I’ve never opened my ps2 before now, I’m so glad I was able to still find a tutorial on how to open and clean my old console!

Thought about opening my PS2, but was a bit worried I might "break" something. Got a second PS2 real cheap in a marketplace deal recently so. I thought I'd follow this video. It's been a eventful afternoon and night opening, cleaning and putting everything back together. I like tinkering and cleaning :D The only part I was a bit worried of was the ribbon and had some trouble getting that part back on, couldn't remember how it went back in, it was actually fairly simple haha. Will clean my own PS2 tomorrow! The PS1 is so much easier to open in comparison. Thanks for the video :D

It’s September 2020, got mine from Costco and it still works like a charm! Big Mahalo for the video!!

I found my ps2 and ive missed playing it, so following this I managed to get it apart and back together without issue! So far everything seems to work and im so excited! Thank you for uploading this!

I was scrolling through my timeline and saw a bunch of people talkin about they ps2 and made me wanna try and fix mine so I watched yo vid and followed step by step. And now it’s reading discs again thanks big homie

FOR PEOPLE WHOSE DVD READER IS NOT OPENING! I finished everything, opened the ps2 it was working. Wanted to see if it is playing games and i pressed the eject button but it was not coming out, tried again but it was still the same. Then i realized i have tighten the under screws too much, i loosen them up a little bit. Then it was fixed.

The power button notation isn't letters, so it doesn't mean "on" or "0" or anything. Just ISO representations of open/closed circuits designed to tell the story in a language independent manner. The line illustrates a closed electrical circuit (on), and the circle represents a gap in the circuit (off). Thanks for the tear-down, it helped a bunch.

Awesome. It's been like 5 years since I last plugged in my PS2 and today I tried to get into SMT: Digital Devil Saga but my disc tray wouldn't eject. This was super helpful in getting gunk and dust from the inside. Surprised that this machine I purchased in 2002 is still going strong.

Idk why I keep coming back to these old cleaning vids but I do.

That doesn't seem too hard, mine has quite a lot of dust but I've got a fatty PS3 so my PS2 never gets used anyway.

it´s been 5 years since I could not play the ps2. Now I can play again. Thank you

I found this vid useful. I finally managed to clean up my PS2's fan yesterday. I couldn't believe how much dust had built up over the years. It sounds as if it's good as new now.

Your video saved my system. Iv had it for about 17 years. It was in my family every since i was born. Man it was dirty. I was afraid to take it apart untill I seen your video.

Thanks to this video, I fixed my old PS2 (SCPH 39004). I had disassembled when I was 15 and I was not able to reassemble it. Now after 10 years I can play again with her.

Thank you for showing how to clean the PS2 original just got one from the store for 50$ cleaned it pretty good only tough part was putting the ribbon for the buttons back in bent them a little but still work good for me it’s all about learning how to clean each system that I have at home

I took out a very big old box in my basement and the playstation 2 was in there with 83 games ... nothing worked my games could not play ..... thanks to your video showing how to clean the ps2 and clean the laser . ... EVERYTHING IS WORKING NOW...THANK YOU SO MUCH 🙏👍👏👍👍😀

Thanks a million, I also bought a PS2 for next to nothing at a pawn shop because they said it was broken (I paid $5.99 for it.) Well, it wouldn't power up and so I followed your video in order to dismantle it without breaking it. When I got it apart, it turned out that the fuse had been shaken loose, and was only attached on one side. When I plugged the fuse back in, I had power (!). At that point I reassembled it. The only thing I did differently than you was during dissasembly I bent the plastic top in order to get it off rather than removing the ribbon cable. That made assembly quite quick and painless, but I was happy for the careful way you inventoried the screws during reassembly. Thanks again, and keep up the good work! This is my first PS2, and it plays DVD's, so needless to say I am very happy. :-)

Remember when my friend put his ps2 in the sink and drowned it because i beat him at dragon ball tenkaichi 3

Man that Ps2 intro, bring back good memories.God I miss the six generation!

Bought a Fat ps2 at a thrift store. Was happy that it worked, but realized it didn’t always read the disk. I tried this tutorial and it worked. Thanks for the help

Before I cleaned my PS2, I had problems playing PS1 games and DVDs. I had to buy some air duster spray and get some Windex before cleaning it up. After cleaning the casings and using some of the air duster, I was happy to find out that my PS1 games and DVDs worked!!! Thanks for the help good sir! I"m planning onto softmodding the PS2 as well. It will be a fun project to do as I softmodded my Xbox not too long ago.

Dude I just cleaned my up mine and u did an awesome job explaining it thanks 🙏

hey adam. i bought a ps2 for like 5/10 dollars and the top of the console where the ps2 logo is on it. is really scratched allot can you tell me some stuff what i should buy to make everything dissapear or make the scratches go away or at least as invisible as possible? thnx allot!

I totally like watching your videos. you are clean and precise and always make it easy for people to follow. keep it up dude.

Just restored my first PS2. I ended up having a different model than this one so the guts and screw locations were different but this video still had a bunch of great info mate. Teh restoration was a success. Thank you!!

The I and O on the power switch are for 1 and 0, one and off respectively for computer codes and electronics.

You're supposed to wet the magic eraser first!

GREAT JOB!! I know its been years since you made this but its nice to have just in case. I have a PS2 , that same one, original owner, got it from costco and I just vacuum the front vents and till this day no problems. Thank you again

Just got a dusty old PS2 for $15. It over heated so fast but thanks to your video I was able to clean it out and now it works perfectly. Thank you

22:34 NOSTALGIA OVERLOAD!!!!

Will you do a ps2 slim model video in the near future?

2nd different video from this channel this week, and second working game system because of the videos. Love it

i saw your videos and today i took out my ps2 and cleaned it just how you did in the video. works perfectly , thanks from Malta

Thanks for the tutorial, dude. My PS2 wouldnt play my copy of silent hill 2 without skipping and I never took the console apart in the many years I've had it and it just needed a little cleaning and it works pretty good. A few hiccups here and there but nothing too major which i'm thankful for.

I have a question. so ive had my ps2 Fat for about 8 years now. i use to play it all the time. i stoped playing it for about 1 year and when i tried playing it agian it gave me a problem. what i mean is: my ps2 starts normal it plays all the games ect..but after about 10 min, my ps2 turns off and the power light just starts flashing green and red without stoping. its strange becuase, even if im not playing it: (not on) it still starts doing that after some time. can anybody help. ps. I already replaced the power strip in the ps2. (did not work)

The past week or so for me had been tough, I was about to give up on playing my modified PS2 after all these years (I am a retro gamer) and contemplated getting rid of it. Until I thought about 'youtubing' "How To Open Up A PS2" with the hope of finding out why my console wasn't reading the games properly after I accidentally dropped it! But thanks to this video I was able to open it up, inspect areas for any broken parts (which there were none) clean up lens as instructed and boom... My PS2 is reading the discs swiftly and perfectly!! KZfaq is brilliant! lol Thank You +Adam Koralik

I really loved this tutorial man. My oldest PS2 JUST broke down on me and had it softmodded and everything :( I knew that my softmodded stuff were already installed on my HDD and memory card exploited so I decided to buy another used ps2 for $20, and by looking at this vid really helped me out clean and restore the ps2 that was once dirty but now mint clean! Thanks very much dude :)

22:56- Get some White Lithium Grease in a tube and apply it to the teeth and the rail on the bottom of the disc tray. That fixes the grinding sound - but do not remove the grease or it will do that again.

my ps2 (fat version) turns on power light its green and tray its blue seems like it reads disks but no audio or video, what can it be?

Was just given a junker PS2. Thanks for the foresight to put this together 9 years old Adam!👍😀

Thanks for this video Adam. I purchased a Fat PS 2 from ebay and didn't know where to start disassembly to clean it out. It was fairly Jank looking and after a complete clean out, it looks almost new ! Cheers man !

My first console

Who else love these videos?

just picked up two ps2s from a thrift shop for $5 each and got one of them working. gonna try to get the other working later. thanks for ur videos they are very helpful.

2019 and THANKS for this! This clean up fixed my PS2 that didn't read the games before!

it's 2022 and people still love playing ps2 😂 😂

I used to mod the fat PS2's back in college- I remember opening one up and there was a gigantic dead water bug in it. I also once fixed someones fans by cutting up a poland spring bottle and crazy glueing my home made plastic rudders to it lol.

Thanks for this video, I followed along today to give my childhood PS2 a long-overdue cleaning 👍

My daughter and i just followed this and now our PS2 works!!! Thanks Adam great video!!

AdamKoralik please make a video cleaning the PlayStation 2 slim !!!!

I had to do this to my Ps2 when some dust got inside and was messing with the laser reading disks. I didn't really get THIS through, although instead of mister clean i opted for a cheap bottle of Turtle Wax plastic shiner/cleaner. Came out really good and smelling faintly of coconuts. XD

Would you say it's necessary to clean a Ps2 if it works but it makes a weird sound with some games? I haven't taken mine apart yet but I tried to clean the fan from the outside and it was filthy.

I have not only one, but two of these. Somehow zero cables though, so I'm in the process of aquiring those. Haven't used them in at least 6 years, and they are covered in dust on the outside, so I can't even imagine what they're gonna look like on the inside! Thanks to you, I'm gonna try and remove most of the dust before I get the cables!

When games wont pass the infamous red screen of doom or memory card management, that means your ps2 went senile

Good tutorial.

The Nostalgia is real!! I’m going buy me one, the two I own as a kid stopped working and I didn’t know them what I know now about them. Great video, and what a find for $3 👍🏼👍🏼

Hi Adam, Thank you for this excellent and informative video. I restored a non-disk reading PS2 (and gave it a much needed clean out) thanks to your detailed and clear instructions. Much appreciated.

PS2 Slim cleaning?

I watched this video a while back for no reason really just to infuse my brain with random information but now my brother is going to New Jersey and he said when he came back I had to have found the ps2 somewhere in our house and clean it up and get a new power supply and controllers so instantly I was like "I know exactly how to do this!"

This video, along with the one you made with the slim PS2 are super helpful to me bc I have one of each and at one point the fat one just stopped reading discs (no clue why) and recently I tried to play on it again after my slim one started giving me issues and it now works for no reason so now I can actually go into it and clean it up to guarantee it to work for years to come

Picked up a PS2 for 20£. Followed this video. Looking a lot better. Fan was caked in dust. Cheers

So I thought this video was posted in 2019

My friend was actually gonna sell his ps2, i was like, No just no

can I ask what cables and other external wires do I need to use?

2021 and I still have my original fat PS2 since it came out, and it still works!

Whenever i see one in the thrift store i buy it. never had a broken one and they sell easily

Just broke the same piece off the tray that you did. Doh! DISCLAIMER: Just leave the front of the tray ON and clean with a Q-tip.

Thank you!! This video helped me clean my PS2 and i was able to clean and fix a whole bunch of PS2's. now im a ps2 flipper. it all started with this vid.

yeah, i need to know where i can get a dvd belt for the fat-model. i noticed while i was cleaning i needed to replace the belt but im not sure what the size is or where to find replacement screws for the system.

i recently got my ps2 from my best friend because he traded in one my ps4 games for a remaster of dark souls which kinda pissed me off (well not that pissed but i jokingly called him a prick for it) and as a way to make amends he said "ok you can pick out any game in my room to keep, anything" then i spotted that ps2 fat baby that always sat at the edge of his closet and me feeling nostalgic picked that and boy was it dirty as hell couldnt even read games but wasnt gonna give up on it so easy and boom found this video copied everything i saw here boom it actually works now! so yeah this video i say legit

lol. so many voice cracks.

Been changing laser units for these for ages. There are resistors/potentiometers that can be adjusted to have more power on the CD and DVD reading but that burns the laser out pretty quickly. When disc read errors are occuring often, it's just easier to replace it if cleaning doesn't work. Anyhow, clean instructional video!

Just restored my Dad's hopeless left for garbage fat PS2 using this guide! Thanks Adam! Playing the good ol' PS2 classics again!